Pulsed Electric Fields for the Treatment of Olive Pastes in the Oil Extraction Process

The aim of this study was to evaluate the ability of pulsed electric field (PEF) technology to improve the extractability and enhance the oil quality in an industrial olive oil extraction process. Using a PEF device on olive pastes significantly increased the extractability from 79.5% for the control, up to 85.5%. The PEF system did not modify the primary legal quality parameters or total concentrations of phenols, aldehydes, and esters. On the contrary, the non-thermal treatment slightly enhanced the dialdehydic forms of decarboxymethyl elenolic acid linked to hydroxytyrosol (3,4-DHPEA-EDA) and tyrosol (p-HPEA-EDA), and decreased the total saturated and unsaturated C5 and C6 alcohols of the PEF EVOO (Extra Virgin Olive Oil) compared to the control test. This study confirmed that PEF technology can improve olive oil extraction and quality.